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Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Verma in Surat on 23rd March, 2024 has sentenced Rahul Gandhi, the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad, Kerala. He had made the alleged remarks against ‘Modi’. At the sentencing several of the state and national Congress leaders were present. The police had increased the security in the court premises to account for unwanted incidents.
The court has approved Mr. Gandhi’s bail on a surety of ₹15,00 and stayed the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal. Purnesh Modi from West Surat who is a former minister from Gujarat and is BJP MLA. He had filed it as a criminal defamation.
The remark made by Rahul Gandhi was, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” during a Lok Sabha rally in 2019 elections in Kolar, Karnataka. The case was lodged under Section 499 for defamation and Section 500 for punishment against defamation under IPC.
The comment made by Mr. Gandhi was video graphed by the surveillance video team which was notified by the office of Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, Kollar District.
Rahul Gandhi Counsel’s Viewpoint
Rahul Gandhi’s lead counsel Kirit Pawala commented that they are not satisfied the judgement as some of their arguments were taken into consideration and they will be approaching senior courts in the coming days. He pointed out that there is no community called Modi and even the petitioner (Purnesh Modi) is not Modi, he had changed his name his name earlier was “Bhootwala”.
He even commented that Rahul Gandi directed this comment to the Prime Minister and this case was filed by Purnesh Modi who is not related to the comment.
MLA Purnesh and his counsel Kirit Reshmawala, displayed their satisfaction on the judgement. The MLA expressed that he belongs to ‘Modhwanik Ghanchi’ community which has the name Modi in it and the comments made my Mr. Gandhi in 2019 Lok Sabha elections had hurt the sentiments of him and of his community.
What the future holds for Rahul Gandhi?
The disqualification for a Member of Parliament can happen in two ways, first would be if the offence committed is mentioned under Section 8(1) of the Representation of the People’s Acts of 1951, this offence includes Section 153A or Section 171E or Section 171 F of IPC and the other would be under Section 8(3) by which if a MP is sentenced to not less than 2 years of imprisonment.
But the disqualification only takes after three months have elapsed from the date and conviction, so this gives Mr. Gandhi a 3 months’ time if he appeals to the court given the fact the court passes a stay order on the same.
Rahul Gandhi took it to Twitter and commented “mera dharm satya aur ahinsa par adharit hai. Satya mera bhagwaan hai, ahinsa usko paane ka saadhan”. This is a very famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi which means, My religion is based on truth and nonviolence, in which truth is my god and nonviolence is the key to achieve it.
